Retail Education
Home furnishings and lighting retailers face many challenges in this ever-changing economy. From new consumer expectations to online competition, today's retailers work hard to ensure their customers have access to on-trend products and great customer service. In this section, you'll find all things retailing — news, features, analysis and tools — needed to make your retail business a success.
Shine On! 4 Tips for Cleaning a Crystal Chandelier
Above a rustic farmhouse dining table. Over a gorgeous marble kitchen countertop. Above a vintage claw foot tub. A crystal chandelier can lend unexpected glamour and whimsy to high-traffic spaces,…
Showroom Bar: Would You Serve Alcohol?
What goes great with a velvet sofa? A glass of wine, obviously.
That seems to be City Furniture's strategy. This October, the company began serving craft beer and wine at its Tarmarac, FL location,…
La Vie en Velvet
Like actress Emma Stone gripping onto her Oscar for La La Land, velvet is holding hard and fast to its reign as the “It” fabric of the year. In fashion, luxe velvet showed up everywhere from the…
How to Automate Social Media — Without Losing Your Voice
When social media automation first came out, the posts were somewhat laughable. They sounded robotic, and it was easy to spot when a real person was actually doing the posting in real time. Nowadays…
Entries/Nominations for 2018 Lighting Showroom of the Year Awards Now Being Accepted Online
The ninth annual Lighting Showroom of the Year Awards competition, which honors exceptional lighting retailers, is now open and accepting entries and nominations. The 2018 Awards are hosted by…
The Family Jewels
Sapphires, rubies and emeralds — oh my! It’s no wonder the precious (and semi-precious) palette has popped up everywhere from fashion runways to floral arrangements this year—and pretty much every…
3 Best Apps for Editing Photos
Nothing kills an image like poor lighting or a blurry background, and in an increasingly digital world where most consumers will judge you first by your social media profiles and website, you can't…
How to Publish Your Own Shelter Magazine
Elements Lighting and Home, an 18,000-square-foot showroom on Long Island in New York, is filled with pretty things — lighting from all the top brands, furniture and accessories too. Retail customers…
What You Can Learn from Walmart's Black Friday Strategy
Ten years ago, no Thanksgiving meal ended without a few Black Friday horror stories: alarms going off at 4 a.m., the long lines in front of Walmart and Best Buy and the fights to score the big gifts…
4 Tips for Choosing the Right Music for Your Showroom
If your showroom is an experience, you want it to be a harmonious one, with all aspects combining to strike all the right chords with your customers. Especially in an industry that’s so visually-…